How to integrate CardClan MCP with Pydantic AI

This guide walks you through connecting CardClan to Pydantic AI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working CardClan agent that can browse your cards, view card details, create personalized links, send cards, and manage integrations through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your Pydantic AI agent real control over a CardClan account through Composio's CardClan MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

CardClan logoCardClan
Api Key

CardClan is a digital card platform for creating and sending personalized team cards. Use it to celebrate moments, share card links, and manage card workflows without extra coordination.

9 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting CardClan to Pydantic AI using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working CardClan agent that can browse your cards, view card details, create personalized links, send cards, and manage integrations through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your Pydantic AI agent real control over a CardClan account through Composio's CardClan MCP server.

Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

Also integrate CardClan with

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • How to set up your Composio API key and User ID
  • How to create a Composio Tool Router session for CardClan
  • How to attach an MCP Server to a Pydantic AI agent
  • How to stream responses and maintain chat history
  • How to build a simple REPL-style chat interface to test your CardClan workflows

What is Pydantic AI?

Pydantic AI is a Python framework for building AI agents with strong typing and validation. It leverages Pydantic's data validation capabilities to create robust, type-safe AI applications.

Key features include:

  • Type Safety: Built on Pydantic for automatic data validation
  • MCP Support: Native support for Model Context Protocol servers
  • Streaming: Built-in support for streaming responses
  • Async First: Designed for async/await patterns

What is the CardClan MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The CardClan MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your CardClan account. It provides structured and secure access to your digital cards, workspaces, sender accounts, and integration workflows, so your agent can find cards, inspect their requirements, create personalized links, configure integrations, and send cards on your behalf.

  • Card and workspace discovery: Have your agent list accessible workspaces and find the cards available within each one.
  • Card detail review: Let the agent check a card's title, personalization requirements, and owning workspace before using it.
  • Personalized card links: Direct your agent to generate a personalized viewing link for a recipient without sending an email.
  • Card sending: Instruct your agent to choose a configured sender account, personalize a card, and email it to one or more recipients.
  • Integration workflow management: Have your agent create or review card integration setups and list cards with active workflows.

What is the Composio tool router, and how does it fit here?

What is Composio SDK?

Composio's Composio SDK helps agents find the right tools for a task at runtime. You can plug in multiple toolkits (like Gmail, HubSpot, and GitHub), and the agent will identify the relevant app and action to complete multi-step workflows. This can reduce token usage and improve the reliability of tool calls. Read more here: Getting started with Composio SDK

The tool router generates a secure MCP URL that your agents can access to perform actions.

How the Composio SDK works

The Composio SDK follows a three-phase workflow:

  1. Discovery: Searches for tools matching your task and returns relevant toolkits with their details.
  2. Authentication: Checks for active connections. If missing, creates an auth config and returns a connection URL via Auth Link.
  3. Execution: Executes the action using the authenticated connection.

Step-by-step Guide

Step by step09 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Python 3.9 or higher
  • A Composio account with an active API key
  • Basic familiarity with Python and async programming
2

Getting API Keys for OpenAI and Composio

OpenAI API Key
  • Go to the OpenAI dashboard and create an API key. You'll need credits to use the models, or you can connect to another model provider.
  • Keep the API key safe.
Composio API Key
  • Log in to the Composio dashboard.
  • Navigate to your API settings and generate a new API key.
  • Store this key securely as you'll need it for authentication.
3

Install dependencies

bash
pip install composio pydantic-ai python-dotenv

Install the required libraries.

What's happening:

  • composio connects your agent to external SaaS tools like CardClan
  • pydantic-ai lets you create structured AI agents with tool support
  • python-dotenv loads your environment variables securely from a .env file
4

Set up environment variables

bash
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_composio_api_key_here
USER_ID=your_user_id_here
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_openai_api_key

Create a .env file in your project root.

What's happening:

  • COMPOSIO_API_KEY authenticates your agent to Composio's API
  • USER_ID associates your session with your account for secure tool access
  • OPENAI_API_KEY to access OpenAI LLMs
5

Import dependencies

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio
from pydantic_ai import Agent
from pydantic_ai.mcp import MCPServerStreamableHTTP

load_dotenv()
What's happening:
  • We load environment variables and import required modules
  • Composio manages connections to CardClan
  • MCPServerStreamableHTTP connects to the CardClan MCP server endpoint
  • Agent from Pydantic AI lets you define and run the AI assistant
6

Create a Tool Router Session

python
async def main():
    api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
    user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")
    if not api_key or not user_id:
        raise RuntimeError("Set COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID in your environment")

    # Create a Composio Tool Router session for CardClan
    composio = Composio(api_key=api_key)
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=user_id,
        toolkits=["cardclan"],
    )
    url = session.mcp.url
    if not url:
        raise ValueError("Composio session did not return an MCP URL")
What's happening:
  • We're creating a Tool Router session that gives your agent access to CardClan tools
  • The create method takes the user ID and specifies which toolkits should be available
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP server URL that your agent will use
7

Initialize the Pydantic AI Agent

python
# Attach the MCP server to a Pydantic AI Agent
cardclan_mcp = MCPServerStreamableHTTP(url, headers={"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY})
agent = Agent(
    "openai:gpt-5",
    toolsets=[cardclan_mcp],
    instructions=(
        "You are a CardClan assistant. Use CardClan tools to help users "
        "with their requests. Ask clarifying questions when needed."
    ),
)
What's happening:
  • The MCP client connects to the CardClan endpoint
  • The agent uses GPT-5 to interpret user commands and perform CardClan operations
  • The instructions field defines the agent's role and behavior
8

Build the chat interface

python
# Simple REPL with message history
history = []
print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")
print("Try asking the agent to help you with CardClan.\n")

while True:
    user_input = input("You: ").strip()
    if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit", "bye"}:
        print("\nGoodbye!")
        break
    if not user_input:
        continue

    print("\nAgent is thinking...\n", flush=True)

    async with agent.run_stream(user_input, message_history=history) as stream_result:
        collected_text = ""
        async for chunk in stream_result.stream_output():
            text_piece = None
            if isinstance(chunk, str):
                text_piece = chunk
            elif hasattr(chunk, "delta") and isinstance(chunk.delta, str):
                text_piece = chunk.delta
            elif hasattr(chunk, "text"):
                text_piece = chunk.text
            if text_piece:
                collected_text += text_piece
        result = stream_result

    print(f"Agent: {collected_text}\n")
    history = result.all_messages()
What's happening:
  • The agent reads input from the terminal and streams its response
  • CardClan API calls happen automatically under the hood
  • The model keeps conversation history to maintain context across turns
9

Run the application

python
if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())
What's happening:
  • The asyncio loop launches the agent and keeps it running until you exit

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with CardClan and Pydantic AI:

python
import asyncio
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from composio import Composio
from pydantic_ai import Agent
from pydantic_ai.mcp import MCPServerStreamableHTTP

load_dotenv()

async def main():
    api_key = os.getenv("COMPOSIO_API_KEY")
    user_id = os.getenv("USER_ID")
    if not api_key or not user_id:
        raise RuntimeError("Set COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID in your environment")

    # Create a Composio Tool Router session for CardClan
    composio = Composio(api_key=api_key)
    session = composio.create(
        user_id=user_id,
        toolkits=["cardclan"],
    )
    url = session.mcp.url
    if not url:
        raise ValueError("Composio session did not return an MCP URL")

    # Attach the MCP server to a Pydantic AI Agent
    cardclan_mcp = MCPServerStreamableHTTP(url, headers={"x-api-key": COMPOSIO_API_KEY})
    agent = Agent(
        "openai:gpt-5",
        toolsets=[cardclan_mcp],
        instructions=(
            "You are a CardClan assistant. Use CardClan tools to help users "
            "with their requests. Ask clarifying questions when needed."
        ),
    )

    # Simple REPL with message history
    history = []
    print("Chat started! Type 'exit' or 'quit' to end.\n")
    print("Try asking the agent to help you with CardClan.\n")

    while True:
        user_input = input("You: ").strip()
        if user_input.lower() in {"exit", "quit", "bye"}:
            print("\nGoodbye!")
            break
        if not user_input:
            continue

        print("\nAgent is thinking...\n", flush=True)

        async with agent.run_stream(user_input, message_history=history) as stream_result:
            collected_text = ""
            async for chunk in stream_result.stream_output():
                text_piece = None
                if isinstance(chunk, str):
                    text_piece = chunk
                elif hasattr(chunk, "delta") and isinstance(chunk.delta, str):
                    text_piece = chunk.delta
                elif hasattr(chunk, "text"):
                    text_piece = chunk.text
                if text_piece:
                    collected_text += text_piece
            result = stream_result

        print(f"Agent: {collected_text}\n")
        history = result.all_messages()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())

Conclusion

You've built a Pydantic AI agent that can interact with CardClan through Composio's Tool Router. With this setup, your agent can perform real CardClan actions through natural language. You can extend this further by:
  • Adding other toolkits like Gmail, HubSpot, or Salesforce
  • Building a web-based chat interface around this agent
  • Using multiple MCP endpoints to enable cross-app workflows (for example, Gmail + CardClan for workflow automation)
This architecture makes your AI agent "agent-native", able to securely use APIs in a unified, composable way without custom integrations.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every CardClan action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Create Integration Configuration

Create a persistent CardClan integration configuration linking a card to its workspace.

Generate Personalized Card URL

Generate a personalized CardClan viewing URL without sending an email.

Get Card Details

Get a CardClan card's title, merge-tag requirements, and owning workspace details by card ID.

Get Integration Configuration

Get a CardClan integration configuration by either integration ID or card ID.

List Cards

List cards in a CardClan workspace, including card IDs needed for details, integration configuration, personalized links, and sending.

List Email Accounts

List configured CardClan sender accounts that can be selected when sending a card.

List Workflow Cards

List cards with active CardClan integration workflows and return their integration, card, and workspace IDs.

List Workspaces

List CardClan workspaces accessible to the connected account, including the workspace IDs needed to find cards and create integration configurations.

Send Card

Immediately personalize and send a CardClan card by email to one or more recipients.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

With a standalone CardClan MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of CardClan tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from CardClan and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Yes, you can. Pydantic AI fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right CardClan tools.

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which CardClan scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your CardClan data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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